It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day in Meridell. Illusen
the Earth Faerie was sitting down in her house, watching her pet Turtum sweep
the floor, and expecting and item that someone fetched for her.
In a few minutes, the doorbell rang. Illusen
rushed to answer it. Turtum heard her say "Thank you! Here are some cream cookies
for your work!"
"Turtum! Turtum! Guess what!" Illusen flew in
happily. "We have some balloons!"
"What does that mean?" Turtum asked.
"It means that we can start making the Turtum
balloons! All I need is a Magic Wand and a Turtum to complete it!"
"But... why are you not going to use me?" Turtum
asked sadly.
"YOU?! I don not want to use you for magic!
I love you!" Illusen looked shocked. Turtum smiled sadly.
The doorbell rang and Illusen flew off to answer
it. In a few minutes she came back.
"Look!" She said again. "It is a Magic Wand!
Now we can start the balloons! Stop that sweeping and let's go!"
The two of them sprinted swiftly upstairs to
Illusen's storage room, where they set the balloons and magic wand on the Zen
Table there.
"But I thought you needed a Turtum," Turtum
said.
"I did, but can I have a small piece of your
shell?" Illusen asked.
"Sure." Turtum pulled off a small piece if his
shell and handed it to Illusen. "Why do you need it?"
"I only need a little bit of a Turtum to make
a balloon," Illusen answered. "That means only a piece of shell."
Illusen put the fur on top of the balloons waved
her magic wand and said:
No
eyes of newt,
No
prickly burrs,
all
have here
Is
balloons and shell of my pet,
Please
make these two items,
Into
something everyone can enjoy!
The shell and balloons began to glow like a Neopet
being blessed by a faerie. They began to fly around the room faster and faster.
Then they collided with each other. Next, there was a deafening bang, and the
result was in Illusen's hand, floating around.
"See, Turtum," she gloated. "I told you it would
work!"
Turtum ignored her; he was looking up at the
balloon.
"Erm... Illusen."
"What?!" said Illusen, growing impatient.
"The balloon... it's..."
Illusen turned around and screamed. The previously
cute Turtum balloon had sprouted fangs the size of a well-grown asparagus plant.
Its eyes that were small, sweet, and black before were now red; its shell was
now gray, and crumbling; and the yellow skin any normal Turtum would have was
black, scaly, and scraped all over the place.
"It is... it is...?" Illusen looked scared.
Turtum frowned at the balloon. "It is a DISGRACE
to all Turtums in Meridell and Neopia!" he yelled furiously. "I can't believe
you were going to give this out as a prize!"
Illusen leered at Turtum "Well it has turned
out horrible, so it is going straight in the... AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
Turtum turned around and saw that the balloon
spring to life, as if it had taken all the energy from their fight to bring
itself to life. Its eyes glowed, and an evil smirk finished the ensemble.
"Illusen, I think that this balloon made from
Balloons, a Magic Wand and a piece of my shell is evil!" Turtum said, scared.
"Evil? But Earth Faeries never make evil things."
Illusen replied.
"ILLUSEN, LET GO OF THAT BALLOON!" Turtum screamed,
shaking in fear.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Illusen shouted in pain. The
Turtum balloon was chewing on one of her lovely red braids. She swatted the
balloon angrily, and it retreated, bearing its grosteque fangs. "Oh no!" Illusen
cried. Her elegant, shiny red braid had become a mess of tangles and Turtum
drool. She cast a frown at the Turtum balloon, who bared its fangs at her again.
"Maybe you should let go of it, Illusen,"
Turtum suggested. Illusen let go of the balloon. It just floated in the air,
innocently, as if it has caused no trouble at all.
One second later, the balloon's eyes glowed red
again and it sped off into the piles of stuff Illusen had collected. "Oh dear.
I wonder what it will do now," Illusen worried.
The Turtum balloon had gone around to one of
the largest piles of items. These items were Hidden Tower items and very rare
items that some of the best sorcerers had collected. The balloon inhaled deeply,
pausing for a moment to see where its creators were and........
"It... it...." Illusen couldn't finish her sentence
at the horrible sight she saw.
The Turtum balloon had gobbled every last item
in that pile, including an Everlasting Apple that was supposed to last forever
and ever. The balloon cast Illusen and Turtum and evil smile, burped and threw
an Ubikiberry Bag at them. It turned away, chewing and drooling happily. Then
it floated downstairs to Illusen's bedroom. "I think that was the answer to
your question," Turtum said, looking at the Ubikiberry Bag in horror.
"Let's go and see what it is doing in my room!"
Illusen rushed downstairs quickly, with Turtum at her heels.
When they got Illusen's bedroom, they saw the
balloon taking a nap in Illusen's Glowing Bed! "Guess it was just right!" Turtum
and Illusen laughed together.
While they were laughing, Illusen was thinking.
"I know!" she exclaimed suddenly.
Turtum stepped back in surprise, nearly smacking
into Illusen's Stone Wardrobe. "What? What do you know?" he asked.
Illusen smiled proudly. "A plan to get rid of
this Turtum balloon! It's been making us mad, right? Well my plan is to deflate
the balloon and give it to someone who makes us mad, so then they will be mad
as well!"
Turtum was puzzled. "Who drives us mad, though?"
Illusen thought some more. "Aha!" she said after
a few minutes. "Jhudora makes us mad! We can give the balloon to her!"
"Ummmmm... but wouldn't she LIKE a balloon that
makes other faeries mad?" Turtum asked.
"I DON'T CARE! LET'S JUST GIVE HER THE DARN THING
AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE!" Illusen yelled.
"Sometimes I wonder why you and Jhudora don't
get along...you guys are so much alike," Turtum replied. Illusen shot him
a look as if he were rotten asparagus. "Let's just go along with the plan, okay?"
she said.
***
After a quick snack of Illusen's Cream Cookies, Illusen and Turtum got all
the materials they needed from the storage room.
"Okay, I think we have just about everything,"
Illusen said to Turtum "Let's check the list. Turtum, please read it to me."
Turtum looked at her funny. "I can't. Turtums
can't read! Did you not remember that?"
"Oh yeah!" Illusen giggled and took the list
from Turtum "A bit of barbed wire...."
"Check!" Turtum replied.
"Wrapping Supplies....."
"Check!"
"That is what's on the list!" Illusen replied.
"Now here is what we do. We take the ribbon from the Wrapping Supplies and tie
the Bit of Barbed Wire to it. Next we sneak to my room and throw it to the Turtum
balloon. Hopefully it will land on him and...POP! It will deflate and we can
fly to Faerieland and give it to Jhudora!"
"Wow! Good plan, Illusen!" Turtum smiled. "Now
let's get to work!"
They snuck quietly into Illusen's bedroom, holding
their invention. "Okay," Illusen whispered, "on the count of three we will throw
it! One...two...THREE!"
Turtum grabbed the invention and hurled it across
the room as hard as he could. Instead of hitting the balloon, it made a huge
dent in the headboard of Illusen's bed and woke up the balloon!
"Oops! Sorry Illusen!" Turtum apologised.
"It's okay. I know you tried your best." Illusen
grinned, making Turtum blush. "Hmmmmm, now about the balloon, I think I know
just the person to help us!"
A few minutes later, Illusen came back with the
Gelert farmer from the Meri Acres Farm. "Aye, I'll be happy to help ya!" he
said. "I just do not hope that I will lose my trusty ol' pitchfork here!"
"It's okay! I know that you will not lose it!"
Turtum replied.
The farmer took one look at the balloon and said
to Illusen, "Well there, little missy, you done gone and messed up real good!"
"I know! That's why I need you to help me pop it so I can throw it away," Illusen
replied.
"OK then!" The farmer replied, and set off to work.
The farmer cornered the balloon, keeping his eye on it the whole time. When
the balloon tried to make a run for it, the farmer caught it. In about 10 minutes,
the farmer slowly raised his pitchfork and....
CRASH! BANG! "AAARRRGGGHHH!"
Illusen ran quickly to the farmer and helped him up. "Are you okay?" she asked
nervously.
"ARGH...I should be okay. Went down a little hard on my back, but I should
be fine," the farmer replied, and searched for his pitchfork. "Oh no! Oh no!
Where has it gone?"
They heard a small burp from overhead, and they glanced up. The balloon was
patting his stomach proudly.
"NOOOOOOOOO! My pitchfork! You," he pointed at Turtum, "You said that nothing
will happened to it! And now that...that...thing you call a balloon ATE IT!"
with that he ran outside, crying.
"Oh dear! Now we sent home the farmer! I think that we will NEVER get this
balloon deflated and sent to Jhudora!" Illusen said sadly.
"I know! We can get Sir Draik! I know that he will get this balloon down!"
Turtum said, cheerfully.
"OK, I guess it is worth a try!" Illusen replied. "Let's go and get Sir Draik!"
"No need to, my lady." Sir Draik was already at the door! He was a very strong
Draik, which is why he is a knight. He is blue, and you can always ask him for
help if you are in trouble. "The farmer told me everything about the balloon
and how it ate his pitchfork. I am sure I can get it down somehow!"
"Really? Oh thank you, Sir Draik!" Illusen said happily.
Sir Draik got out his shiny silver sword and moved silently towards Illusen's
bedroom, which is amazing because he was wearing many layers of armour. When
he got to Illusen's bedroom, the balloon had gone back to sleep. Sir Draik crept
slowly into the bedroom, crouching down when he got to Illusen's bed. Then he
swiftly poked his sword at the balloon, and... POP! The balloon deflated.
All the air hissed out the hole Sir Draik had made, and it began to swirl around
the room in the air. Then, after about a minute in the air, the now popped Turtum
balloon fell slowly to the floor.
"Whew!" Sir Draik said, exhausted. That was a very hard job!"
"Oh thank you Sir Draik!" Illusen ran up to him and helped him onto his feet.
"That was great to watch!"
"I have a question for you," Sir Draik began. "What are you going to do with
that balloon now?"
Illusen smiled slyly. "Oh we have a plan for it......."
***
The next day, Jhudora the Dark Faerie got a package in the mail. It was the
Turtum balloon. She blew it up quickly, and the next second it was causing mayhem
for her! "Only one being in Neopia would have sent me this! ILLUSEN!" she yelled.
Meanwhile at Illusen's house, Turtum was taking a nap and Illusen was just
taking out a fresh batch of Cream Cookies from the oven when her doorbell rang.
She opened the door and there I stood!
"Hello Illusen," I said. "I'm just wondering....has anything interesting happened
here lately?"
"Why yes. There was a very interesting incident yesterday. Come on in and I
will tell you about it!"
The End | 
